Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs iPhone 4S : Battle of the Beasts

As expected, Google and Samsung unveiled the first smartphone with the latest Android 4.0 OS (aka Ice Cream Sandwich) – the Samsung Galaxy Nexus which is touted to be the successor to the flagship android phones of Google’s Nexus series and considered to be the best android smartphone to buy right now.

Now it is pretty logical to compare the best android phone with the best iPhone (which was released just a week back). Though the basic differences with respect to the OS remain, let us take a brief look at their specs.

>>Display

As we know, Apple didn’t bother to upgrade the high resolution retina display in iPhone 4S, Samsung and Google have went ahead and upgraded the Galaxy Nexus to Super AMOLED HD. Even the resolution of Galaxy nexus (1280×720) is better than that of iPhone 4S (960×640). As for the screen size, iPhone 4S is at 3.5 inches as compared to the humongous 4.65 inches of Galaxy nexus.

Winner: Galaxy Nexus for sure.

>>RAM

RAM has been one of the biggest talking points of iPhone 4S. With just 512MB packed into it, iPhone 4S has managed to surprise everyone with its speed and performance. Galaxy Nexus though comes with 1GB of meat which should ensure a snappy performance.

Winner: Galaxy Nexus

>>Camera

Anyone who understands photography would tell you how lesser relevant are the megapixels we see on the cameras, specially the phone cameras. But then iPhone 4S manages to beat Galaxy Nexus in terms of specs as well as performance. iPhone 4S comes with a 8 megapixel camera while Galaxy Nexus has a 5 megapixel cam and comes with an impressive zero shutter lag. But then, the Galaxy Nexus lacks the LED flashUpdate: It does come with a mono-LED flash. Both of them can record the videos at full HD 1080p resolution.

Winner: iPhone 4S for sure

>>Storage

iPhone 4S comes in 3 models – 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. But Galaxy Nexus comes in 16GB & 32GB versions only. There is no mention of expandable microSD memory slot in Nexus which is so much unlike Android smartphones.

>>Battery

Surprisingly Google and Samsung didn’t bother to talk about the battery performance of Galaxy Nexus and Android ICS during the hour long event earlier today. It’s supposedly comes with 1,750 mAh battery, but we have no clue about the expected battery backup. We are not expecting Galaxy Nexus to come anyway close to iPhone 4S’ battery performance.

Winner: iPhone 4S

Conclusion

There is no doubt that these two are the best in class smartphones anyone would crave to buy right now. While unlocked iPhone 4S starts from $649, Samsung Galaxy Nexus is expected to priced at $599. When we are comparing an iPhone with a Android phone, it’s very wrong to compare just the specifications. What matters more is the end-user experience. Apple has managed to wow users with iOS 5 and Siri on iPhone 4S. Google too has managed to give the much needed push to the UI of Android with Ice-cream Sandwich, but has continued to let down users on the battery front. I leave it to you to decide which one you would opt for given a choice. Do let me know via the comment form below.

Raju PP Founder-Editor Raju is the founder-editor of Technology Personalized. A proud geek and an Internet freak, who is also a social networking enthusiast. You can follow him on Facebook and on Twitter. Mail Raju PP. Follow rajupp